Entacapone Dosage
This dosage information may not include all the information needed to use Entacapone safely and effectively. See additional information for Entacapone.
The information at Drugs.com is not a substitute for medical advice. ALWAYS consult your doctor or pharmacist.
Usual Adult Dose for:
Additional dosage information:
Usual Adult Dose for Parkinson's Disease
For use as an adjunct to levodopa/carbidopa to treat patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease who experience the signs and symptoms of end-of-dose "wearing-off":
200 mg of entacapone administered concomitantly with each levodopa/carbidopa dose to a maximum of 8 times daily (200 mg × 8 = 1600 mg per day).
Entacapone may be taken with or without food.
Renal Dose Adjustments
Data not available
Liver Dose Adjustments
The manufacturer recommends caution when administering this drug to patients with liver dysfunction.
Precautions
If a decision is made to discontinue treatment with entacapone patients should be monitored closely and other dopaminergic treatments should be adjusted as needed. Although tapering entacapone has not been systematically evaluated, it seems prudent to withdraw patients slowly if the decision to discontinue treatment is made.
Rapid withdrawal or abrupt reduction in the entacapone dose could lead to emergence of signs and symptoms of Parkinson's disease, and may lead to hyperpyrexia and confusion, a symptom complex resembling the neuroleptic malignant syndrome. This syndrome should be considered in the differential diagnosis for any patient who develops a high fever or severe rigidity.
There is no identified potential use or dosage of entacapone in pediatric patients (less than 18 years of age).
Dialysis
Data not available
Other Comments
Entacapone should always be administered in association with levodopa/carbidopa. Entacapone has no antiparkinsonian effect of its own.
In clinical trials, the majority of patients required a decrease in daily levodopa dose if their daily dose of levodopa had been greater than or equal to 800 mg or if patients had moderate or severe dyskinesias before beginning treatment.
To optimize an individual patient's response, reductions in daily levodopa dose or extending the interval between doses may be necessary.
Entacapone can be combined with both the immediate and sustained-release formulations of levodopa/carbidopa.
